The present invention relates to a system and method for tuning a gas turbine, and in particular, to a system and method for tuning a gas turbine from a remote computer.
FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a conventional gas turbine system. The system includes a gas turbine 100 having, inter alia, a plurality of combustion chambers 101, a plurality of pressure transducers 103a, 103b installed in respective combustion chambers 101 for measuring pressure therein, an emission sensor 107 installed in each of the combustion chambers 101 for measuring emissions therein, and a fuel manifold (not shown) for controlling and providing fuel splits to the turbine 100.
A tuning kit 130 including a signal conditioner 133 and a dynamics monitor 135 is operatively coupled to the gas turbine 100. Specifically, the signal conditioner 133 is connected through a coaxial cable 131 to the pressure transducers 103a, 103b for receiving raw data signals from the pressure transducers 103a, 103b. The signal conditioner 133 processes the received raw data signals by providing an analog to digital conversion to the raw data and outputs corresponding signals to the combustion dynamics monitor 135. The combustion dynamics monitor 135 includes a computer that provides further signal processing to the received signals and ultimately generates a fast fourier transform (FFT) from which maximum amplitudes and frequencies of the combustion dynamics of the turbine 100 can be determined.
An emissions system 104 is connected to the emissions sensors 107 (one shown) to provide data regarding the amount of substances such as NOX and CO in the exhaust of the turbine 100. An on-site engineer can analyze the amplitude and frequency data generated by the combustion dynamics monitor 135 and/or emissions system 104 and determine any necessary adjustments to the gas turbine 100 such as an adjustment to the fuel split settings.
A turbine controller 110 such as a Mark V turbine controller is operatively connected to the turbine 100. A processor such as an “I” processor 140 is connected to the turbine controller 110 for exchanging data using Arcnet protocol. After the engineer determines the necessary changes to the gas turbine 100, the engineer can provide an input into the processor 140 such as new fuel split control values to implement the changes. The processor 140 provides the control values to the turbine controller 110 which, in turn, provides a corresponding signal to the turbine 100 so that the turbine 100 can be tuned to the new settings reflecting the input into the processor 140.
After the gas turbine 100 has adjusted to the new settings, the engineer will make another set of measurements through the pressure transducers 103a, 103b and/or emissions sensors 107 to thus obtain another measurement of the combustion dynamics and/or emissions of the turbine 100. This process is repeated until a map of combustion dynamics and/or emissions as a function of fuel splits and operating mode is developed. Using this map, the engineer can determine the optimum fuel split settings to achieve low emissions and low dynamics.
The conventional gas turbines require tuning to minimize combustion dynamics and emissions. This tuning is performed locally. The engineer must therefore be present on-site at the location of the turbine to tune the turbine. Often, the engineer must wait around for other subsystems to become ready to tune the turbine.
It would thus be beneficial to enable the engineer to tune a turbine from a remote location, thereby resulting in improved productivity.